Room-temperature fabrication of high-performance H doped ZnO thin-film transistors

We prepared ZnO:H thin films in Ar + H-2 atmosphere with substrate at room temperature by magnetron sputtering, the effect of H-2 flow ratio on the properties of thin films and the performance of ZnO:H thin-film transistors (ZnO:H-TFTs) were investigated. Hydrogen could act as a defect passivator and a shallow donor in ZnO films, which not only increases the carrier concentration but also reduces the interface trap density, therefore improving the TFT performance. Compared with pristine ZnO-TFT, the optimal ZnO:H-TFT exhibits great enhancement, with the saturation mobility increasing from 2.17 cm(2)/V.s to 5.17 cm(2)/V.s, the on/off ratio increasing from 3.47 x 10(5) to 4.98 x 10(6), the threshold voltage reducing from 15.12 V to 6.03 V. Meanwhile, the positive and negative bias stability is also improved from Delta V-th = 3.89 V and -6.35 V to 1.74 V and -3.72 V, respectively. Our results show that introducing hydrogen into the sputtering atmosphere to achieve hydrogen doping is a simple and effective method to improve the performance of ZnO-TFTs. Furthermore, the high-performance ZnO:H-TFTs fabricated at room temperature have great potential in the field of flexible electronics.

Automated summary

By preparing ZnO:H thin films in Ar + H-2 atmosphere, introducing hydrogen as a defect passivator and a shallow donor, the performance of ZnO:H thin-film transistors was greatly enhanced, with improvements in saturation mobility, on/off ratio, threshold voltage, and bias stability. This simple and effective method has great potential for flexible electronics applications.